John Dewey How We Think

Dewey Steps of thinking Examples Deciding to choose the subway over the elevated or an automobile in order to reach a certain destination at a certain time-->Everyday experience Identifying the function of a pole on a boat as pointing the direction of the boat while rejecting other hypotheses Hypotheses about the formation of soap bubbles-- >scientific training

Dewey Simpler example You come home and you find your house in a disorderly state

Dewey Five steps: A felt difficulty Its location and definition Suggestion of possible solutions Reasonings bearing upon the possible solutions Further observations leading to acceptance or rejection

Dewey Steps 1 and 2 Perplexity or problem Case 1: harmonize an end with the means for reaching it Case 2: incompatibility of belief with facts Find intermediate factors that bind incompatible traits Case 3: reduce apparent anomalies to well-established laws Find intermediate factors

Dewey Steps 1 and 2 Begin with partial and confused data to a comprehensive solution A diagnosis of the situation Do not rush to a conclusion The essence of critical thinking is suspended judgment Suspension is inquiry to determine the nature of the problem before proceeding to attempts at its solution

Dewey Steps 1 and 2 Case of the disorderly room More detailed and extensive observation Case of the disorderly room Inventory the facts Look more broadly: Is only one room disorderly, or are several rooms disorderly? Look more precisely: Is anything damaged? Similar to a doctor performing some diagnostic tests

Dewey Step 3 Suggestion-idea-going from something present to something absent Speculation, leap, supposition, conjecture, guess, hypothesis, theory Cultivation of a variety of alternative suggestions is an important factor in good thinking Inference-the suggestion of an explanation or solution

Dewey Systematic inference-recognition of definite relations of interdependence between items previously unorganized and disconnected This recognition is brought about by the discovery and insertions of new facts and properties Induction is discovery of a binding principle

Dewey Case of the disorderly room Burglars Mischievous children Strong winds Like a physician who comes to a diagnosis after conducting tests to collect observations

Dewey Step 4 Reasoning-developing the implications of an idea on a problem Links together extremes into a consistent whole Develops the meaning of a given idea Deductive reasoning is movement toward testing, confirming, refuting, modifying it on the basis of its ability to unify isolated details into a single experience

Dewey Case of the disorderly room Draw out the implications of the various hypotheses If burglars ransacked the room, then any valuable would be missing. If children or the wind did it, then no valuables would be missing. If it was the wind, then some windows must have been left open. Once a physician has come to some diagnoses, then he draws out the implications of these diagnoses.

Dewey “The trained mind is the one that best grasps the degree of observations, forming of ideas, reasoning, and experimental testing required in any special case, and that profits the most, in future thinking, by mistakes made in the past.”

Dewey Step 5 Verification of one speculative idea and falsification of the other alternatives Direct observations already present Experiments-conditions are deliberately arranged in accord with the requirements of the idea to see if the results theoretically indicated in the idea actually occur

Dewey Case of the disorderly room See if the consequences of the various hypotheses are confirmed or not. Like the physician testing each diagnosis to determine which is most likely

Dewey Recognizing the existence of a problem Collecting and investigating the facts Synthesizing them into an idea or hypothesis Drawing forth the consequences of this idea Verifying that these results are actual